By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
This is the tale of two young brothers, who are part-time pirates.
One was fighting cancer, and along with his little brother they wrote a story about their pirate adventures – not typical pirates, but pirate frogs. In an unexpected plot twist, the story was made into a book by the Sing Me a Story Foundation, which in turn found a composer to put it into music, and a school choir to perform the piece.
The ballad of the pirate frog pair will make its musical debut next week, performed by the Bowling Green High School Choir during the Fall Choir Concert on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.
In the audience will be the composer, the young authors and their family.
The story comes from the imaginations of two swashbuckling brothers, Colton, now 5, and Connor, now 4. The tale tells of a series of mishaps – as one might expect from a story about pirate frogs.
Spoiler alert … the plot includes an attack by an enemy ship, cannons that shoot lunchboxes to scuttle the bad buccaneers, a scallywag called “Mr. Eyeball,” and some magical belly smacking.
Pirates of the Caribbean this is not. But it is the story of a couple heroes – Colton and Connor, from Toledo. Just after Colton’s fourth birthday last year, he was diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. His cancer is now in remission, but he still has a year of treatment ahead of him.
Corri Stanley, the mother of Colton and Connor, was contacted by the Sing Me a Story Foundation, to see if the boys wanted to share a story to be put to music. The boys told their story over a Zoom call with Autumn Dobbeck, of Sing Me a Story.
“It is pretty cool,” Stanley said. “She made it so fun.”
Since Colton and Connor were a little young to handle all the book illustrations, some older amateur artists were enlisted for the job.
“We got some family members involved,” including the boys’ parents, aunts and cousins, Stanley said.
Their story, titled “Colton and Connor’s Magical Pirate Frog Adventure,” follows the brothers on an epic pirate adventure that reflects their resilience and imagination during a challenging time.
The Sing Me a Story Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to serve children and families in need through the imaginative stories of children and the power of music, contacted Beth Vaughn, choral director at BGHS. Vaughn was intrigued by the project, and applied for a grant from the BG Schools Foundation to bring the story to life.
“I thought it would be a really good example for my students,” Vaughn said. And the choral students responded with enthusiasm for the pirate frog tale.
“They love it. They are really excited to meet the boys,” she said.
Vocalists from the four high school choirs – 65 all together – will join to tell the musical tale.
“It’s a very playful song, with a lot of different emotions,” Vaughn said. “It shares their stories poignantly.”
With the school foundation funding approved, the Sing Me a Story Foundation commissioned BGSU music composition major Colton Ogg to craft a song based on the boys’ imaginative tale.
“The story I received from Colton and Connor reminded me of my younger brother and I when we were young,” Ogg said. “I tried to write the score in a way that would highlight the boys’ humorous storytelling as well as their childlike innocence and creativity.”
The music matches different moments in the story – with some sweeping sea faring ballads, some parts sweet and dreamy, some sadly nostalgic, and some bright and adventurous.
When Ogg accepted the composition role from the Sing Me a Song Foundation, he had not yet seen the story written by the two young boys.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Ogg, a second-year composition student at BGSU. “I knew whatever the story was, it was going to be adventurous.”
When he received the story, Ogg was not surprised.
“Of course it’s about pirates,” he said, remembering what it was like to be a little boy himself. But the pirates being frogs did add some element of surprise. “That added another layer on top. My initial reaction was – oh my gosh, this is wild.”
Parts of the plot took Ogg back to his childhood – like the boys changing from frogs back to boys by patting their bellies.
“That’s so silly, that’s exactly what my brother and I would have done,” he said.
Ogg started turning the story into a song in June, knowing his deadline for the BGHS Choir was not far away. “I had to have it to them by the time school started.”
He plans to get a sneak peak of the song when he attends a practice session on Monday.
“I’m very excited for it,” he said.
The concert on Tuesday will be attended by Colton, Connor and their family, as well as Ogg. It will be the first time the boys hear their story to music.
Colton spent much of last year in chemotherapy, with treatments three days a week.
“It was a very hard year,” his mom said. “Childhood cancer is a thing I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”
Colton is now in remission and back at school, but his doctors want some treatments to continue another year – just to be sure.
“He’s one tough kid,” Stanley said of her son. “He is back at school and his hair is back – he’s excited about that.”
Best mates Colton and Connor are looking forward to hearing their treasured pirate tale performed on stage by BGHS Choir next week.
“They know it’s being turned into a song,” their mom said – frogs, lunchbox cannonballs and all.
